2021/22 NBA Two-Way Contract Tracker
One of the most notable additions to the NBA’s most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement, which went into effect at the start of the 2017/18 league year, is the two-way contract.
As we explain in depth in our FAQ, two-way contracts allow NBA teams to carry two extra players in addition to the 15 on their regular season roster. These players generally bounce back and forth between the NBA and G League, but remain under team control and can’t be poached by rival franchises.
The NBA has carried over some rule changes for two-way deals that were first introduced during the 2020/21 season. Rather than being limited to 45 days with their NBA teams, two-way players will be eligible to be active for up to 50 of their team’s 82 regular season games. And instead of having their salaries determined by how many days they spend in the NBA, they’ll receive flat salaries of $462,629, half of the rookie minimum.
NBA teams have begun to fill in their two-way slots for the 2021/22 league year, so we’ll track all those deals in the space below. Some two-way players from 2020/21 inked two-year contracts and remain under contract for this season, while others have been newly signed.
If a two-way signing has been reported but isn’t yet official, we’ll list it in italics and link to the report, updating the info as necessary. Players who are in the first year of two-way contracts that cover two years (the maximum length), will be noted with an asterisk (*) once that info is confirmed.
This tracker will continue to be updated throughout the 2021/22 league year, and can be found anytime in the “Hoops Rumors Features” menu on the right-hand sidebar of our desktop site, or in the “Features” menu on our mobile site.
Here are 2021/22’s two-way players:
Updated 4-11-22
Atlanta Hawks
- Sharife Cooper, G
- Chaundee Brown, G *
Boston Celtics
- Brodric Thomas, G
- Matt Ryan, G/F
Brooklyn Nets
- David Duke, G
- Empty
Charlotte Hornets
- Scottie Lewis, G/F
- Arnoldas Kulboka, F
Chicago Bulls
- Tyler Cook, F/C
- Malcolm Hill, F
Cleveland Cavaliers
- Brandon Goodwin, G
- RJ Nembhard, G
Dallas Mavericks
- Theo Pinson, G
- Moses Wright, F
Denver Nuggets
- Markus Howard, G
- Davon Reed, G
Detroit Pistons
- Jamorko Pickett, F
- Braxton Key, F *
Golden State Warriors
Houston Rockets
- Trevelin Queen, G
- Anthony Lamb, F
Indiana Pacers
- Nate Hinton, G
- Gabe York, G
Los Angeles Clippers
- Jay Scrubb, G/F
- Xavier Moon, G/F
Los Angeles Lakers
- Mason Jones, G
- Mac McClung, G
Memphis Grizzlies
- Yves Pons, F
- Tyrell Terry, G *
Miami Heat
- Javonte Smart, G *
- Mychal Mulder, G *
Milwaukee Bucks
- Sandro Mamukelashvili, F/C *
- Lindell Wigginton, G
Minnesota Timberwolves
- Nathan Knight, F/C
- McKinley Wright IV, G
New Orleans Pelicans
- Gary Clark, F
- Jared Harper, G
New York Knicks
- Jericho Sims, F/C *
- Feron Hunt, F *
Oklahoma City Thunder
- Lindy Waters III, G *
- Melvin Frazier, G
Orlando Magic
Philadelphia 76ers
- Myles Powell, G
- Charlie Brown Jr., G *
Phoenix Suns
- Gabriel Lundberg, G
- Empty
Portland Trail Blazers
- Keljin Blevins, G/F
- Brandon Williams, G *
Sacramento Kings
- Neemias Queta, C
- Empty
San Antonio Spurs
- D.J. Stewart, G
- Robert Woodard, F
Toronto Raptors
Utah Jazz
- Xavier Sneed, F *
- Empty
Washington Wizards
- Cassius Winston, G
- Jordan Schakel, G *
Ishmail Wainright Signs With Raptors
AUGUST 7: The signing is official, the Raptors announced (via Twitter).
AUGUST 5: The Raptors have agreed to a two-year deal with free agent swingman Ishmail Wainright, agents Deirunas Visockas and Jim Tanner tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
While the exact terms of the deal aren’t known, Blake Murphy of The Athletic says (via Twitter) it’ll include a partial guarantee, giving Wainright the opportunity to compete for a regular season roster spot. It seems likely to be worth the minimum.
Wainright, 26, went outdrafted out of Baylor in 2017 and has bounced around a handful of international leagues since then. In 2020/21, he played for Strasbourg in France, registering 11.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.5 APG, and 1.8 SPG on .485/.320/.726 shooting in 36 games (28.1 MPG). He’s considered a versatile defender on the wing, notes Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
A report in June stated that Wainright was eyeing a move to the NBA for 2021/22 and identified Toronto as the frontrunner to land him. Murphy reported on Wednesday (via Twitter) that Wainright would be on the Raptors’ Summer League roster in Las Vegas.
Wizards Notes: Trade Negotiations, Dinwiddie, Kuzma, Neto, Avdija
The Nets, who recognized that Bradley Beal wanted the Wizards to acquire Spencer Dinwiddie and knew they had some leverage in sign-and-trade talks, initially asked Washington for a first-round pick, reports Fred Katz of The Athletic. When they were unsuccessful, the Nets tried to get Washington to part with Deni Avdija or Rui Hachimura, according to Katz.
However, the Wizards held firm in those negotiations and ended up keeping their top assets, instead sending Brooklyn a future second-round pick and a second-round pick swap. The Nets will also generate an $11.5MM trade exception in the deal.
As Katz details, the Wizards also had to sweeten the deal for the Lakers to convince them to loop the Russell Westbrook trade agreement into Washington’s acquisition of Dinwiddie via sign-and-trade, which is why L.A. will be receiving three second-round selections from the Wizards instead of just two.
Finally, Katz reports that the final version of the complex five-team trade will see the Wizards acquire cash considerations from the Pacers. The full breakdown of the trade agreement can be seen on our offseason trade tracker.
Here’s more on the Wizards:
- For much of this week, there had been a league-wide assumption that the Wizards may end up rerouting Kyle Kuzma to a new team as part of the Dinwiddie deal, but Washington never included him in trade discussions, according to David Aldridge of The Athletic, who notes that the club has significantly improved its depth with this week’s roster moves.
- Raul Neto‘s new deal with the Wizards will be a one-year, minimum-salary contract, according to Katz. Neto will join Dinwiddie and Aaron Holiday on the club’s point guard depth chart.
- Although Deni Avdija has been cleared for basketball activities, he’s not playing for the Wizards in Summer League, writes Katz. The club wants to limit the risk of a setback for 2020’s lottery pick, who is recovering from a right fibular hairline fracture.
NBA Minimum Salaries For 2021/22
An NBA team that has spent all its cap space and doesn’t have any of its mid-level or bi-annual exception available still always has the ability to sign a player to a minimum-salary contract, unless that club is right up against its hard cap.
Teams with cap room or with access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception will have a little more flexibility to sign players to longer-term minimum-salary contracts. However, teams without cap room and without any other exceptions on hand can still use the minimum salary exception to add as many players as roster limits and the hard cap allow, for contracts of up to two years. Unlike other exceptions, such as the mid-level or the bi-annual, the minimum salary exception can be used multiple times.
[RELATED: Values of 2021/22 mid-level, bi-annual exceptions]
Undrafted free agents and second-round picks are often recipients of minimum-salary contracts, but there are plenty of veterans who end up settling for the minimum too. Because a player’s minimum salary is determined by how much NBA experience he has, many veterans will earn more than twice as much money as a rookie will in 2021/22 on a minimum-salary contract.
Listed below are 2021/22’s minimum salary figures, sorted by years of NBA experience. If a player spent any time on an NBA club’s active regular season roster in a given season, he earned one year of experience. So any player with zero years of experience has not yet made his NBA debut.
These figures represent a 3% increase on last season’s figures, since that’s the amount of the NBA’s salary cap increase for 2021/22.
Here’s the full breakdown:
| Years of Experience | Salary |
|---|---|
| 0 | $925,258 |
| 1 | $1,489,065 |
| 2 | $1,669,178 |
| 3 | $1,729,217 |
| 4 | $1,789,256 |
| 5 | $1,939,350 |
| 6 | $2,089,448 |
| 7 | $2,239,544 |
| 8 | $2,389,641 |
| 9 | $2,401,537 |
| 10+ | $2,641,691 |
Because the NBA doesn’t want teams to avoid signing veteran players in favor of cheaper, younger players, the league reimburses clubs who sign veterans with three or more years of experience to one-year, minimum salary contracts. Those deals will only count against the cap – and against a team’s bank balance – for $1,669,178, the minimum salary for a player with two years of experience.
For instance, Trevor Ariza, who has 17 seasons of NBA experience, is signing a one-year, minimum-salary contract with the Lakers, who will only be charged $1,669,178 for Ariza’s contract. He’ll earn $2,641,691, but the NBA will make up the difference. This only applies to one-year contracts, rather than multiyear deals.
If a player signs a minimum-salary contract after the regular season begins, he’ll earn a prorated portion of the amount listed above.
Those figures listed above also only apply to players who are signing new contracts in 2021/22. Players who are in the second, third, or fourth year of a minimum-salary deal will be earning a slightly different predetermined amount.
For example, a player like Spurs guard Tre Jones – who signed a minimum-salary contract last offseason and now has one year of NBA experience – will earn a $1,517,981 salary in the second year of his contract, exceeding the $1,489,065 he’d receive if he were signing a new minimum deal this fall. That’s because his second-year salary is based on a 5% raise over last season’s minimum salary for a player with one year of experience.
Here’s what multiyear minimum-salary contracts signed in 2021/22 will look like:
| Experience |
2021/22 | 2022/23 | 2023/24 | 2024/25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | $925,258 | $1,563,518 | $1,836,096 | $1,988,598 |
| 1 | $1,489,065 | $1,752,638 | $1,902,137 | $2,057,646 |
| 2 | $1,669,178 | $1,815,677 | $1,968,182 | $2,230,253 |
| 3 | $1,729,217 | $1,878,720 | $2,133,285 | $2,402,862 |
| 4 | $1,789,256 | $2,036,318 | $2,298,390 | $2,575,475 |
| 5 | $1,939,350 | $2,193,920 | $2,463,498 | $2,748,090 |
| 6 | $2,089,448 | $2,351,521 | $2,628,607 | $2,761,767 |
| 7 | $2,239,544 | $2,509,123 | $2,641,690 | $3,037,946 |
| 8 | $2,389,641 | $2,521,613 | $2,905,862 | $3,037,946 |
| 9 | $2,401,537 | $2,773,776 | $2,905,862 | $3,037,946 |
| 10+ | $2,641,691 | $2,773,776 | $2,905,862 | $3,037,946 |
Technically, a minimum-salary contract could cover five years for a player with full Bird rights, but in actuality, that never happens. While some second-round picks and undrafted free agents will sign three- or four-year minimum-salary contracts, a minimum deal exceeding two years is rare for a player with more than a year or two of NBA experience under his belt.
Information from RealGM was used in the creation of this post.
NBA 2021 Free Agency: Day 3 Recap
Nearly 80 free agent contracts were agreed to during the first two days of the NBA’s 2021 free agent period. That breakneck pace slowed significantly on Day 3, but there were still several noteworthy headlines, including a $125MM commitment, a five-team trade agreement, and a New York homecoming for a four-time All-Star.
[RELATED: 2021 NBA Free Agent Tracker]
Listed below are Wednesday’s notable contract agreements and news items. For the most part, these deals aren’t yet official, so the reported terms could change — or agreements could fall through altogether. Generally speaking though, teams and players are on track to finalize these deals sometime after the moratorium ends on Friday.
Here are Wednesday’s noteworthy free agent agreements:
Note: Some of these salary figures may includes options, incentives, or non-guaranteed money.
John Collins, Hawks agree to five-year, $125MM contract.- Spencer Dinwiddie, Wizards agree to three-year, $62MM contract (sign-and-trade).
- Danny Green, Sixers agree to two-year, $20MM contract.
- Terence Davis, Kings agree to two-year, $8MM contract.
- Tony Bradley, Bulls agree to two-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Enes Kanter, Celtics agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Victor Oladipo, Heat agree to one-year, minimum-salary contract.
- Saben Lee, Pistons agree to three-year contract.
- Moritz Wagner, Magic agree to two-year contract.
- Raul Neto, Wizards agree to contract.
Here are a few more of the day’s most notable headlines:
- Kemba Walker has reached a contract buyout agreement with the Thunder and will join the Knicks once he clears waivers.
- The Wizards, Nets, Lakers, Pacers, and Spurs agreed to a complicated sign-and-trade deal that will get Spencer Dinwiddie to Washington.
- The Warriors agreed to trade Eric Paschall to the Jazz.
- LaMarcus Aldridge, who announced his retirement in April following a health scare, is seriously considering attempting a comeback.
- The Pelicans hired Mike D’Antoni as a coaching advisor.
- The Thunder rescinded their qualifying offer to Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, making him an unrestricted free agent.
- Aron Baynes (Raptors), Alen Smailagic (Warriors), and Alfonzo McKinnie (Lakers) were officially waived by their respective teams.
Previously:
Wizards To Acquire Spencer Dinwiddie Via Sign-And-Trade
11:56pm: The Spurs are sending the draft rights to 2015 first-round pick Nikola Milutinov to the Nets in the five-team trade, according to Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link). That will satisfy the “touching” requirements we outlined below and allow the deal to be officially completed once the moratorium ends on Friday.
Katz adds (via Twitter) that the Wizards have also agreed to trade one more second-round pick (Chicago’s 2023 selection) to the Lakers. Washington is giving up five second-round selections in the deal (three to the Lakers, one to the Spurs, and one to the Nets), as well as a second-round swap (to the Nets).
Finally, Katz reports that the third year of Dinwiddie’s contract will be partially guaranteed (Twitter link).
5:04pm: The Wizards and Spencer Dinwiddie are in agreement on a three-year, $62MM deal that will land the veteran point guard in Washington, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The club will acquire Dinwiddie from the Nets via sign-and-trade.
That $62MM figure had been expected for Dinwiddie’s deal with the Wizards, since it’s the most the team could pay him by looping his sign-and-trade into the larger Russell Westbrook deal with the Lakers, notes Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Charania (Twitter link), the Nets will receive a second-round pick and a draft-pick swap from the Wizards in the sign-and-trade agreement. The move will also create an $11.5MM trade exception for Brooklyn.
Additionally, the Wizards will trade Chandler Hutchison and a second-round pick to the Spurs as part of the multi-team deal, Charania reports (via Twitter). Moving Hutchison’s $4MM+ salary will allow Washington to remain out of tax territory for now, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link) provides the details on the draft assets, reporting that the Wizards are sending a 2022 second-rounder to San Antonio and a 2024 second-rounder to Brooklyn, as well as a 2025 second-round pick swap to the Nets.
The 2022 second-round pick headed to San Antonio will be the most favorable of the Lakers’, Bulls’, and Pistons’ second-rounders, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic.
That 2025 swap will give Brooklyn a chance to send Golden State’s second-rounder to Washington in exchange for the Wizards’ 2025 second-rounder, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. The 2024 second-rounder will be the more favorable of the Wizards’ and Grizzlies’ selections, Bontemps adds.
In total, Wojnarowski tweets, the deal will include five teams: the Wizards, Nets, Spurs, Lakers, and Pacers. The Westbrook trade agreement and the Wizards’ deal for Aaron Holiday will become part of this larger deal once it’s officially completed after the moratorium lifts on Friday.
Here’s what the full trade should look like, based on the details reported to date:
- Wizards to acquire Dinwiddie (via sign-and-trade), Kyle Kuzma, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Montrezl Harrell, Holiday, and the draft rights to Isaiah Todd (No. 31 pick).
- Lakers to acquire Westbrook, either the Wizards’ or the Grizzlies’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is less favorable; from Wizards), and the Wizards’ 2028 second-round pick.
- Nets to acquire either the Wizards’ or the Grizzlies’ 2024 second-round pick (whichever is more favorable; from Wizards) and the right to swap their the Warriors’ 2025 second-round pick for the Wizards’ 2025 second-round pick.
- Spurs to acquire Hutchison and either the Bulls’, Lakers,’, or Pistons 2022 second-round pick (whichever is most favorable; from Wizards).
- Pacers to acquire the draft rights to Isaiah Jackson (No. 22 pick).
As Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report points out (via Twitter), there will likely be at least one more piece involved between the Nets and Spurs in order to satisfy the rule that every team in a multi-team trade must “touch” two other teams in the deal. As reported so far, Brooklyn and San Antonio are each only receiving assets from (or sending an asset to) the Wizards. That last piece would likely be something minor, such as cash or the draft rights to a stashed player.
In Dinwiddie, the Wizards are getting a 28-year-old point guard who is coming off a lost season. He appeared in just three games before missing the rest of the 2020/21 campaign due to a partially torn ACL. However, Dinwiddie was reportedly cleared for all basketball activities in June and the expectation is that he’ll be good to go for the fall.
In his last full season, Dinwiddie averaged 20.6 PPG and 6.8 APG on .415/.308/.778 shooting in 64 games (31.2 MPG) for Brooklyn in 2019/20.
Word broke on Monday night that the Wizards and Dinwiddie were nearing an agreement, but the club didn’t have the cap space necessary to acquire him without getting the Nets’ cooperation in a sign-and-trade. Because Brooklyn didn’t want to take on any salary but wanted an asset or two for agreeing to play ball, it took all involved parties a couple days to work out the details of the deal that would get the point guard to D.C.
Sixers Re-Sign Danny Green
AUGUST 7: The Sixers have officially re-signed Green, the team announced today in a press release.
“Bringing Danny back was a top priority for our organization this offseason,” president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said in a statement. “He has proven to be an important leader on and off the floor, and he knows what it takes to win an NBA title as a three-time champion. We are very happy that he’ll continue to remain a crucial part of the 76ers.”
AUGUST 4: The Sixers have agreed to terms with veteran swingman Danny Green on a two-year deal that will bring him back to Philadelphia, according to his Inside The Green Room podcast co-host Harrison Sanford (Twitter link). A league source confirms the news to veteran NBA reporter Marc Stein (Twitter link).
Because the 76ers have Early Bird rights on Green, they won’t need to use their mid-level exception to complete the signing.
Agent Raymond Brothers tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link) that the 34-year-old’s new deal won’t include any options. However, a follow-up tweet from Sanford suggests the second year will be non-guaranteed, with a July 1, 2022 guarantee date.
According to Sanford (Twitter link), Green had discussions with the Nets, Celtics, Bucks, Bulls, and Warriors, among other teams, during free agency this week. He turned down a two-year offer from the Cavaliers, Sanford adds.
A 12-year NBA veteran who has won titles with three different teams, Green started all 69 games he played for Philadelphia in 2020/21, averaging 9.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, and 1.3 SPG with a .412/.405/.775 shooting line in 28.0 MPG.
Green has long been a reliable three-and-D wing, having knocked down 40.1% of his career attempts from beyond the arc.
The Sixers waived George Hill this week and lost Dwight Howard to the Lakers, but have now lined up deals to bring back both Green and Furkan Korkmaz. The club also signed Andre Drummond to a minimum-salary contract on Wednesday and has agreed to a deal with forward Georges Niang.
Warriors Sign Jonathan Kuminga To Rookie Contract
Seventh overall pick Jonathan Kuminga formally signed his rookie scale contract with the Warriors on Tuesday, per NBA.com’s transactions log.
Kuminga made it official with Golden State a day before making his pro debut at the California Classic Summer League in Sacramento. He scored 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting against Miami’s Summer League squad on Wednesday.
As our breakdown of this year’s rookie scale salaries shows, Kuminga – the No. 7 overall pick in last Thursday’s draft – is projected to earn $5.47MM in his rookie season, assuming he signed for the maximum allowable amount (120% of the rookie scale). His four-year deal will be worth nearly $25MM in total.
The Warriors haven’t made an official announcement yet about signing Kuminga — they’ll likely send out a press release in the coming days to announce his deal and Moses Moody‘s at the same time.
Hawks Sign Sharife Cooper To Two-Way Contract
The Hawks have signed second-round pick Sharife Cooper to a two-way contract, according to the official transactions log at NBA.com.
Cooper, the 48th overall pick in last Thursday’s draft, had a brief college career, playing just 12 games in his freshman year for Auburn before a left ankle injury derailed his season. He looked good in his limited action though, averaging 20.2 PPG, 8.1 APG, and 4.3 RPG in 33.1 minutes per contest for the Tigers.
Signing Cooper to a two-way contract means Atlanta won’t have to save a spot for him on the 15-man regular season roster. He’ll occupy one of the team’s two-way slots instead and will be eligible to appear in up to 50 NBA games while on that contract.
It remains to be seen who will join Cooper on that second two-way deal in Atlanta. The team has a qualifying offer out to Skylar Mays, one of its two-way players from 2020/21, but so far he hasn’t accepted it.
Lakers Waive Alfonzo McKinnie
AUGUST 4: The Lakers have officially released McKinnie, the team confirmed today in a press release.
AUGUST 3: The Lakers will waive veteran forward Alfonzo McKinnie, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
McKinnie still had two more years left on his minimum-salary contract with the Lakers, but his salaries for the next two seasons were fully non-guaranteed. As such, the team won’t be on the hook for any dead money as a result of releasing McKinnie, who will get a chance to seek out a new opportunity.
McKinnie, who will turn 29 next month, averaged 3.1 PPG and 1.4 RPG on .516/.410/.556 shooting in 39 games (6.6 MPG) for the Lakers in 2020/21.
Although McKinnie had been on a minimum contract, his $1.91MM salary for 2021/22 would’ve been higher than the cap hit for a newly-signed one-year, minimum-salary contract. So the Lakers will likely replace McKinnie on the roster with a free agent and save a bit of money in the process. That’s not insignificant, since the club projects to be well over the tax line this season.